


Not enough time for all That I want for you

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson is in Skye's hands, F/M, Feels, Friendship/Love, Love, Romantic Angst, Skye loves Coulson, Support, Unresolved Sexual Tension, different POVs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-26 22:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2668142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angsty post 02x08 fic about Skoulson and running out of time.</p><p>Title from INXS "Not Enough Time"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coulson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Coulson's POV

He kept thinking back to her words, before everything had become a fevered race.  
  
 _You found something to chase._  
  
Staying one step ahead had taken its toll and he wasn't sure how long, or if, he could keep the pace.  
  
Fury always had the long view, and he'd been a profiler, a trusted executor in Fury's absence; able to make a quick read and follow through on the tough calls when needed.  
  
Designing an op wasn't exactly predicting the future, and the only thing he had on hand resembling an oracle was Skye.  
  
Skye, who he valued for seeing things differently. For seeing him differently. He didn't want Skye to have to think like Daniel Whitehall, to get inside that man's head.   That was his job.  The city represented a lot of things to him. While he didn't feel his compulsion to carve its blueprint any longer, it was still pulling at him.  
  
They had to get there before HYDRA. Before Skye's father had a chance to use it and Skye for his own purposes. He pushed down the thought of losing her. What that might mean.  
  
Maybe there was a chance here for something better? If Skye held all the cards, it wouldn't be up to her father to scheme his way in. He'd accept things on her terms.  
  
The curious way in which they'd met, though. How he knew his name, called him "Phil" like it was something practiced. How much had he watched pass between him and Skye in that room?  Where he'd dropped a picture of himself holding Skye as a baby like a breadcrumb.  
  
And saying he was her father, that SHIELD had stolen her from him, as though Skye had no say in it at all?  
  
He was clever and calculating. There was an otherness that put him off, but all the same, he had something of her manner that made it hard to loathe him in the way he had expected to.  
  
And he could've easily overpowered him.  Killed him, even. Instead, he took the opportunity to study him. Gave him information on HYDRA.  Why?  
  
Trip's life had hung in the balance, so maybe in the end they were just circling each other, taking the other's measure?  
  
He wanted to use Skye. He had a plan for her, and whether it was to harm or help her seemed unclear, but he had no intention of aiding someone misguided enough to work with Whitehall in any capacity.  
  
And Skye had named herself. _That was that._

“As much as I'd like to believe you're reviewing my rec order with the patience of that Job guy,” she said, leaning over his desk. “Why do I have the feeling that look's about something else?”

“Sorry, I got off track there,” he said, looking up with a brief smile.  _Job._ Kind of fitting.  
  
“More like you left it back at the station and hopped on the pensive train.”  
  
He sighed.  
  
She makes the easy reply, and he knows she's offering him a choice: he can talk about this now, or talk about it later.  
  
“Is this about my father?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.  
  
Or not. 

He can't stand it when she looks at him like that. It almost generates an involuntary response in him, and aside from making him feel like a sap, it fills him with hope and dread as to what it means for him.  
  
He's never been in love this way before. Never.  
  
But then, he's never let anyone get this close. 

“It’s about a lot of things,” he answered back, quickly signing the rec form and sliding it across the desk to her. 

“Thanks,” she said, picking up the piece of paper. “The new imaging equipment will come in handy below the surface.  So we can map it as we go, we won’t have to wait to upload and assemble it later.  At least, that’s what Fitz…” 

“Skye,” he said, cutting her off. “I’m not just chasing this city to beat HYDRA to the punch.”

“I know,” she said quietly. 

Staring back into her eyes too long will get him lost.  It’s easier to look when she doesn’t see him.  So he stares back down at the desk. 

“Look, my father is helping HYDRA,” she continued. “That means I’m at the center of this, too.  You can’t shield me from it, no matter how much you’d like to.” 

There's not a lot he can say, but this might be the one thing he wants her to understand.

“I don’t want to shield you from it,” he said standing, coming around the desk. “I want to put it in your hands.” 

She looks at him for a moment with something like awe or maybe she thinks he’s an idiot?  He’s not really sure, only that he suddenly remembers to blink. 

“ _Coulson_.” 

It’s spoken like a whisper, like he’s said some secret aloud, and he looks away for a moment, regretting if he’s made her feel overwhelmed trying to explain himself. 

When he steals a look at her face, he sees the flush in her cheeks. 

Now, he’s terrified.  Of how much he wants her with him.  Of moments like this when she looks so wholly understood and loved…it takes his breath away. Like he could live for such things.

Throwing her arms around his neck, he can’t help but draw her to himself and pray that they can at least have this moment uninterrupted. 

Who knows when it will happen again? 

Those words repeat in his mind as she pulls away, but stays close, looking at him.  Her hands still on him.   

Who knows when this will happen again? 

He's in her hands already, isn’t he?


	2. Skye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same from her POV.

There's no way he's actually taking that long to read a rec form. He's thinking about something.

Dwelling. Coulson likes to dwell on things.

Not her thing. Just one of the many ways they are different. But with dwelling comes heaping loads of guilt and she knows he will spend a lot of time thinking about stuff that's already happened and imagining scenarios instead of channeling that into something productive.

Like signing her rec form.

The little bit of hope she'd had before seems to be dwindling away.

It all started off innocently enough. Just a little flirtation with the boss man.

He really _is_ a lot older than her. And their _something_ could easily just be professional curiosity and time plus chance or really scientific sounding reasons as to why they seem to continually gravitate towards one another.

Only, she knows it's not that.

He wanted her here. Showed off a little to get her attention. Then kept it by giving her more space to be herself in a way she never thought she could be. On her own, sure. But not with someone else.

Miles had never given her that kind of space. He'd tried to give her himself as a solution. So did Ward, and wow, was that a hell of a lesson learned.

Coulson is always giving her herself. And she is finding him right there with her.

It's exciting and she loves him for it. He electrifies her.

But it can't happen, because, she might not even be human. He's still human, even with that alien juice. Maybe slightly differently human, but at least he's from the same solar system as Earth.

Of course she was with Miles and it didn't kill him, but, Miles didn't know what she was, did he?

Coulson can't protect her from that. Or stop her father from being what he is. Or save her from that city and her fate.

Pieces of a puzzle.

And if he can't go _there_ , she wishes he could go there. Because, when they're in it together, she feels a peace she's never had. Even when everything is going crazy around them, he's there in the center.

Her calm, the eye of the storm.

“As much as I'd like to believe you're reviewing my rec order with the patience of that Job guy,” she said, leaning over his desk. “Why do I have the feeling that look's about something else?”

“Sorry, I got off track there,” he said, looking up with a brief smile, trying to play it off.

“More like you left it back at the station and hopped on the pensive train," she answers.

Coulson sighed.

That sigh means either he's about to spill his guts or change the subject again. But, he's put this off long enough.

“Is this about my father?” she asked, pinning him down with her eyes.

Suddenly, Phil Coulson, Director of SHIELD, turns sheepish.

He's going to work through the back channels in his mind to sort this out and he doesn't have a ready answer for her. It's okay, she trusts him to do that, even though he doesn't trust that she trusts him. All she can feel for him at this point is trust, even when he's let her down. Because she knows how deeply he cares. Even when he's hiding behind protocols or trying to fix it all without her help.

Whatever comes between them, it won't matter in the end. He will be there beside her.

“It’s about a lot of things,” he answered back, quickly signing the rec form and sliding it across the desk to her.

“Thanks,” she said, picking up the paper, she glanced at the quick scribble on it reflecting his mood. “The new imaging equipment will come in handy below the surface. So we can map it as we go, we won’t have to wait to upload and assemble it later. At least, that’s what Fitz…”

“Skye,” Coulson said, cutting her off. “I’m not just chasing this city to beat HYDRA to the punch.”

She stares back at him, at the gravity that was in his voice. Maybe he wants to say something here?

“I know,” she answers back quietly.

He stares back at her for a moment and seems like he's about to open up before he turns away. He does this all the time and it frustrates her. _They're so close_.

Some other way to reach him then, to make him understand. He can't protect her from this. They need to be in it together.

“Look, my father is helping HYDRA,” she begins. “That means I’m at the center of this, too. You can’t shield me from it, no matter how much you’d like to.”

She watches him take it all in, sees a spark of recognition, like she's pushed a big button.

“I don’t want to shield you from it,” he says as he stands and walks around his desk. “I want to put it in your hands.”

Her breath catches in her chest at that. This is one of those times where he's understood so completely. They've been on the same page all along.

She's such an idiot.

He seems a bit startled by it all, too, starts blinking like he does, and she can barely get his name out.

“ _Coulson_.”

She doesn't want to lose him this time, doesn't want to lose his eyes, but she hesitates, waiting for him to look back at her. Then he does and she can't take her eyes off of him. She could be swallowed up in him, can't even resist the urge to touch him.

Who knows when she'll be able to again?

With everything happening, with him focused on the big picture now. The little things might get lost.

She throws her arms around his neck, breathing him in, feeling his arms wrapped around her, letting it saying the things he can't. It doesn't matter. She feels loved.

Will they ever be this close again?

There's no interruption this time. No Hunter to come in and spoil it.

She wants to see his face, and so she pulls back just enough to not let go.

He's right there with her.

 


End file.
